Ghost In The Machine ‎- One Louder EP

Ghost In The Machine ‎- One Louder EP
Until now Perc Trax has mostly been a place for techno artists to experiment with a harder, more industrial sound. On One Louder, the Dutch duo Ghost In The Machine's debut EP for the label, it's the other way around. Frank Nitzinsky and Nils Van Lingen have been involved in the hardcore scene for decades. Nitzinsky is the drum & bass artist Eye-D. He's also in The Outside Agency with Noël Wessels, AKA DJ Hidden, the revered industrial hardcore act behind Genosha Recordings. Van Lingen's Mindustries is still performing at major hardcore meet-ups and had a release on PRSPCT XTRM last year. Ghost In The Machine is a techno project, and a rollicking one at that.

If you backtrack through Ghost In The Machine's releases you'll find a running "grill" gag. There are spoonerisms in the titles as well, evidence of the goofy sense of humour behind the unyielding music. But there's nothing scuffed up or dirty about their sound here—this is clean and mean techno, tough, punchy and tightly coiled. "Hold My Drink" and "PSKDT (When Does It End?)" have creaking industrial hues, but the best thing about this EP is its drive. It's a slamming power surge from the off. The energy snowballs, most formidably on "The Holy Grill," which becomes a throbbing mass of noise that you can't avoid stomping to, fists balled and teeth bared.